Rogue’s Gallery: Firestorm’s Nuclear Nemeses

Rogue’s Gallery Week concludes here at FIRESTORM FAN! As a superhero, you know you’ve hit the big time when a collection of your enemies band together in an attempt to defeat you. The Superman Revenge Squad, Spider-Man’s Sinister Six, and Flash’s Rogues… just to name a few. On one occasion, four of Firestorm’s foes teamed-up to take on the Nuclear Man — Multiplex, Hyena, Slipknot, and Mindboggler! Along the way, they were joined by one of Blue Devil’s foes, Bolt. While the supervillain team didn’t have a formal name, I’ve taken to calling them The Nuclear Nemeses. In case you’re wondering, yes, that’s the plural of Nemesis. And yes, I had to look up the spelling.

The supervillain team-up took place during a crossover between THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #45-47 and BLUE DEVIL #23. In addition to my unhealthy devotion to the Nuclear Man, I’m also a huge fan of Blue Devil! Click here for all the Blue Devil content on my other blog, ONCE UPON A GEEK (including exclusive content and an interview with the Blue Devil creators)! You can imagine I was absolutely thrilled when my two favorite fun-loving heroes teamed-up. While The Nuclear Nemeses was an interesting collection of villains, personally I would have made some adjustments to showcase Firestorm’s most threatening foes. My supervillain team-up would have consisted of the most celebrated Firestorm rogues, such as: Eddie Earhart, Satin Satan, Kriss-Kross, Goldenrod, and Le Flambeau. … Okay, just kidding. I was making sure you were paying attention. Truthfully, my Firestorm rogues team given the time period would have consisted of: Multiplex, Killer Frost, Typhoon, Hyena, Plastique, and Hector Hammond (from Firestorm’s JLA days). That’s just my two cents.

Here are a few pages from the crossover featuring our villains…

Below is a page from THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #46 (April 1986), written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Joe Brozowski (a.k.a. J.J. Brozowski and J.J. Birch), and inked by Mike Machlan. This was Joe Brozowski’s first issue. He remained on the book for a few years, eventually leaving after issue #79.

Below is another page from THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #46 (April 1986). On this page, Firestorm is being defeated by … a rope.

Below is a page from BLUE DEVIL #23 (April 1986), written by Gary Cohn & Dan Mishkin, penciled by Alan Kupperberg, and inked by Bill Collins. On this page Blue Devil gets to mix it up with Firestorm’s baddies.

Below is a page from THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #47 (May 1986), written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Joe Brozowski, and inked by Mike Machlan. Blue Devil’s conflict with Firestorm’s rogues continues on this page, and things don’t look very good for old horn-head.

Below is the final page from the crossover in THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #47 (May 1986).

This crossover had some great covers! I’ve posted all four covers below.

The cover to THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #45 is particularly interesting. The cover was penciled by Denys Cowan and inked by Dick Giordano. From an artistic approach, this is a really beautiful cover! Lots of energy, it conveys the story, and is very exciting. From an accuracy approach, it’s got some problems. First, in the bottom right corner you can see the Firestorm villain Stratos, who originally appeared in THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #29 (Nov. 1984). While Stratos looks super-cool on this cover, he doesn’t actually appear within the issue. Whoops! Second, notice how Firestorm’s headpiece tapers into red sideburns? What’s up with that? That wasn’t part of Firestorm’s costume at the time. Ironically enough, two years later those same headpiece-sideburns would become a trademark of the “Blank Slate” Firestorm.

Below is the cover to THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #46 by Joe Brozowski and Rick Magyar.

Next up is the cover to Blue Devil #23 (April 1986) by Paris Cullins and Gary Martin. I LOVE this cover! Both Firestorm and Blue Devil look seriously cool. Paris really outdid himself on this piece. The Firestorm Kirby-Krackle is a great touch!!!

Finally, below is the cover to the crossover conclusion, THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #47 (May 1986) by Joe Brozowski and Rick Magyar. I’m not sure I can explain it, but I’ve always liked the composition and colors on this cover. It just works for me.

That’s it for Rogue’s Gallery Week here at FIRESTORM FAN! Thanks for sticking with us all week!

Search

Welcome to FIRESTORM FAN:

The Source for DC Comics' Nuclear Man – Firestorm! You'll find anything and everything Firestorm-related here. We cover things such as: news, comics, merchandise, toys, apparel, cartoons, creator interviews, podcasts, and commentary about the character. This site is maintained by The Irredeemable Shag and is not affiliated with DC Comics in any way.